East Ham : Seven Selected Buildings

From East Ham Station

Central Park Cafe

Opened since 2017 by Sophie Downer and her team. Sophie has worked for Theo Randall, The River Cafe, The Anchor and Hope and most recently at Vinarius in Bow. The team is passionate about making fantastic quality products, and bringing artisanal baking and cookery to Central Park and the East Ham Community. 

Opening Hours:

Everyday: 9am-3pm

The Applecart Cafe

Is the social core of Applecart Arts

Pop in for hot and cold drinks, light lunches, snacks and of course, plenty of cake!

Our café also has a little shop, where we sell goods from local vendors. Browse our selection of honeys, candles, soaps and prints. 

Opening Hours

Monday-Wednesday: 8am-5pm

Thursday-Saturday: 9am-9pm

Sunday: 9am-6pm

Today East Ham is a multicultural hotpot of activity – hard to believe it was once desolate marsh-land and forest. Here are five interesting facts about how it has evolved to be the outer city bustling suburb that we know today.

The name ‘East Ham’ has Anglo-Saxon roots

In Anglo-Saxon England the word ‘hamme’ meant village or low-lying pasture and this is where the ‘Ham’ part derives from. The former part of the town’s name came after the Norman Conquest when the manor was divided between East and West and the title East Ham was coined

In 1066 East Ham was worth £10

If William the Conqueror had come to East Ham in 1066 he would have been able to purchase the whole of it for £10. At this price William could have bought 8 cattle and 22 pigs, 59 acres of meadow with woodland, 38 villagers, 30 smallholders and 3 slaves.

Tudor royalty haunts East Ham

Local legend has it that Henry VIII built a castle on Green Street for his then lover and second wife Anne Boleyn. In 1904 West Ham built their grounds on the area and hence the name: Boleyn Ground. In 1904 the club introduced the “castle” in the background of their badge to reference the fact the land they played on was home to an old Tudor castle.

In the 19th Century East Ham was famous for potato growing

Today East Ham is famous for its South Indian restaurants, but it was once famous for its output of potatoes and turnips. A farm named Plashet Hall during the earlier 19th century even earned the nickname Potato Hall!

Between 1851 and 1911 East Ham’s population grew by 7585%

During the 1890s East Ham was growing faster than any other town of its size in England. This in part was due to railways reaching the area. In 1858 East Ham railway station opened. This was followed by the connection of East Ham station to the District Line in 1902. From 1851 to 1911 the population of East Ham grew from 1,737 to 133,487 (7,585%).

36 bombs were dropped on East Ham in World War 2

East Ham suffered heavy bombing during WW2. In 1939 nearly 16,000 residents were evacuated and 32,000 from neighbouring West Ham. Today on November 11th the community remembers those who died, at the Cenotaph in Central Park. So there we have it – five facts about how the East Ham community has evolved, changed and stood strong over the past 1,000 years. We can only guess what it will look like in this many years from now – all ideas welcome.

Prepared by Greatfield Residents Association member Naomi

At the Red Door Studios

17 & 18 September

We will be displaying an exhibition during The Open House festival which will feature the work of Ferha Farooqui who’s paintings perfectly illustrate the loss of public buildings in Newham and the effect this has socially and culturally on the community.

We will be joined by conservation architect Britt Harwood who will introduce visitors to the building and explain its chronological development and historic significance.

Alongside this we will have a drop-in workshop where we will be making a city made from waste materials, asking participants to consider both the old buildings that we should continue to repair and maintain and newer solutions to modern environmental and social problems.

Our café will be open both days from 11-2pm and we have wheelchair access to the ground floor of the building and an accessible toilet.